Case Number 21990

THE MARRYING MAN (BLU-RAY)

The Charge

About to marry the perfect girl, suddenly he meets the girl of his
dreams...

Opening Statement

"You know what the odds are on that? Impossible to one."

Facts of the Case

It's the late 1940s and Charley Pearl (Alec Baldwin, The Edge) is a
lazy playboy, heir to a toothpaste empire. Deciding to settle down, he's chosen
Adele Horner (Elizabeth Shue, Hollow Man), daughter of Hollywood mogul
Lew Horner (Robert Loggia, Lost Highway), as his bride. During his
bachelor party, Charley happens to catch sight of sultry lounge singer Vicki
Anderson (Kim Basinger, Cellular) and is immediately smitten. However,
Vicki belongs to gangster Bugsy Siegel (Armand Assante, The Mambo Kings).
And then there's the small detail of that upcoming wedding. Suddenly, Charley's
life is turned upside-down, inside-out, and sideways, over and over and over
again.

The Evidence

The Marrying Man has a single claim to fame. This infamy has nothing
to with script, production values, acting, or direction. Nope, none of those
things. So what is it? This is the movie where Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger met
and fell in love. It was alleged, at the time, the pair got so hot and heavy
during filming, the relationship caused disruptions and delays in filming.

If true, it helps (partly) explain why The Marrying Man, written by
Neil Simon (Murder by Death), does not work. But there's still plenty of
blame for Simon's uninspired script. It has aspirations of being a throwback
screwball comedy, but the story is too silly and annoyingly repetitive (how many
times can they break-up and get back together?), short-circuiting many of the
so-called jokes and gags. Ineffective montages and Paul Reiser's (Mad About
You) annoying narration further prevents the film from gaining any
traction.

The Marrying Man has more problems than just comedy, as its dramatic
scenes fall flat too. Credit this failure to the extremely limited range of
Baldwin and Basinger. Sure, they were early in their careers, but bad is bad.
Both seem to equate raising the volume of their voice with expressing emotion.
The combination of bad acting and weak story results in two characters so
superficial and shallow it's impossible for us to relate to either one of
them.

Plus, the rest of the cast is underused. Assante appears only briefly as
Siegel, Loggia barks all of his lines, and Shue is wasted on a one-note
character.

Oh yeah...and Basinger can't sing.

The Marrying Man is presented with a 1080p, 1.78:1 transfer. Adequate
but far from great, colors are clear and bright, detail is passable with patches
of softness, and there's a fair amount of grain, scratches, and other
imperfections. The 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio is stronger than the picture, with
sound that is balanced and clear. It's a simple soundtrack to be sure, but all
the music and dialogue come through without a problem.

There are no extras.

Closing Statement

The Marrying Man is an unremarkable film with no special features,
which begs the question: Why release it on Blu-ray at all? You got me. Maybe it
was intended to show that Alec Baldwin circa 1991 resembles brother Billy more
closely than Alec circa 2011.